


sweet little lies

by imogeline



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-05-07 02:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imogeline/pseuds/imogeline
Summary: 1. Kokichi wakes up to the sun.2. Kaito and Kokichi go on a date unaware.3. Kokichi finds Kaito's dream journal.4. Nine times Kokichi lies about how he's feeling and one time he gets close to the truth.





	1. clothes swap

Momota-chan’s T-shirt is like a dress on him. When he stands and looks in the mirror at his sweat slicked face, it reaches down to his fingertips. If he brings his arms in close he can feel the edges. If he brings his arms in close, the loose shirt threatens to slip off his bony shoulders.

Momota-chan likes when he wears his clothes. Maybe. He smiles and shakes his head even though Kokichi does it with the aim of annoying. Momota-chan throws his coat over Kokichi’s shoulders when he gets too cold. Momota-chan buys him presents he thinks he might like and lifts him onto his shoulders when something’s too high and presses kisses to his face when he knows Kokichi is willing to tolerate his affection. 

Momota-chan also snores, and the noise provides a soundtrack for Kokichi to stare at himself in the mirror. His arms aren’t at his sides now. Momota-chan’s lovesick, he’s realized. Momota-chan wrote him an honest to God love poem that Kokichi lets his eyes skim over. 

It was amusing that night when he had thrown the words back in Momota-chan’s flustered face. He clumsily compared him to the stars and the moon and all of the other things he loves, and when Kokichi had jabbed that Saihara-chan had had to help him, Momota-chan only burned brighter. 

For someone so perceptive, Kokichi doesn’t quite understand how he missed the words right in front of his face or the clothes on his back. 

Momota-chan’s serious. Kokichi crumples the paper calling him his moon and his stars in his tiny cold hands. He’s known for so long that Momota-chan doesn’t have emotions by halves, and it would be so, so easy to break his heart. Slip the paper back into the pocket of his coat decorated with the moon and the stars, slip out of the room without a word, slip out of the shirt that he wears to irritate but only makes Momota-chan smile.

He could run. He should run. Kokichi haphazardly folds the letter and tosses it onto the bedside table next to Momota-chan’s sleeping face.

Momota-chan’s not his night sky. Kokichi doesn’t know what he is to him other than something than he finds more difficult to leave than he should. 

Kokichi’s entertainment in the early morning hours consists of doodling his own poem on the back of Momota-chan’s, signing it with the phrase ‘by a much better writer,’ and slipping under the covers to even his breathing and pretend he hadn’t been parading around the room at his leisure when Momota-chan starts to stir. 

For all his love of night, Momota-chan likes to wake up early to not waste the day, and Kokichi gets slightly irritated at himself for so easily remembering that fact as he registers the familiar sounds of shifting and stretching, and Momota-chan leaning over to press his lips to Kokichi’s forehead. 

Momota-chan still thinks Kokichi’s asleep, and mutters fondly to himself, “stole my shirt again, huh?”

He moves away and Kokichi keeps spying. Momota-chan spends a minute with his back to him as he busies himself with something on the bedside table, and Kokichi waits for the aggravation he knows will come when he spies his additions. 

He hears nothing. Then he hears Momota-chan standing, walking to the mirror, and Kokichi dares to open his eyes to follow him, to see him standing where he once did, a familiar checkered scarf in his large hands. He turns it over, folding and unfolding and Kokichi’s lips quirk into an involuntary smile when he sees him tie it around his neck, a bit too short and a bit clumsy, but Momota-chan seems so pleased at himself as he turns this way and that to model it for himself. 

He’s too big and too sentimental and too charming, and Kokichi makes sure his movements and steps across the room are too quiet to hear. The yelp when Kokichi jumps to throw his skinny arms around Momota-chan’s neck is also far too enjoyable.

Momota-chan says, “you fucking scared the shit out of me,” when he recovers, and, “you know you could just say good morning like a normal person.”

“Morning, sunshine!” Kokichi cheers. 

Momota-chan rolls his eyes. He has a different reaction when he reads the same words mirroring his own as he returns Kokichi’s scarf to the bedside table.

Momota-chan’s serious. Kokichi doesn’t know what he is. 

But he’s in the mood to accept the hug, to accept the declarations of love, to accept that Momota-chan is so okay with him wearing his clothes late into the afternoon. 

He doesn’t know why escape seems so unappealing, and Kokichi doesn’t like when he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand why anyone would be serious about him or why he would stoop so far as to call anyone his sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i tried a slightly different style for this fic so i hope it still reads okay! and also i'm a day late and will probably be late most days but still! oumota week!!!


	2. first date

The bonding day for the boys in their class was brought on less by the desire to grow closer to their classmates and more the urge to create some counterpart to the girls only event happening that same day. Tenko had led the charge and few of the girls had seemed to have any issue with excluding the boys, which Shuichi noticed only hurt Kaito a little when Maki had declared she had no problems with it.

The varying degrees of apathy the boys had shown to Kaito’s proposal for them to do something similar together had resulted in a bit more sulking. Shuichi smiled up at Kaito as supportively as he could, “I, um, I think that’s a really nice idea, Momota-kun. I think there’s also a fair in town right now so may—”

“Oh fuck, really?” Kaito slammed his fists together. “Then it’s decided: we’re having a boys’ day out!”

There was a slight murmur of interest, with both Gonta and Keebo sharing that they’ve never been to a fair or a carnival or anything like that. With his usual politeness, Rantaro turned to Shuichi to speak with his words drowned out by the growing conversation. “I never knew you were the kind of person who liked stuff like festivals, Saihara-kun.”

“Ah,” Shuichi said. “Well, I’m not really. But,” he looked up through his bangs at Kaito suddenly engaged in a heated argument with Kokichi, “it sounds like something Momota-kun would like.”

Rantaro followed his gaze and hummed. “Right. It sounds fun then. Not sure if I have quite as much energy to enjoy it like he would.”

Shuichi nodded along in agreement and then again when he found himself biting the inside of his cheek in agreement. At their arrival, Kokichi had taken off to announce he would be the first on a rollercoaster that looked like a deathtrap to Shuichi. Kaito was hot on his heels, shouting back only, “Shuichi! Hold my stuff!” while everyone else stood dumbfounded and slightly lost. 

With the two bundles of energy leaving them in the dust, Rantaro offered some guidance in their wanderings. Shuichi clutched Kaito’s bag. Keebo and Gonta seemed enchanted by everything while Ryoma summoned his patience to be in as a good a mood as possible not to ruin their fun, and Korekiyo lectured on the evolution of social gatherings such as this. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

Shuichi walked with Rantaro, half listening and half watching as purple blurs on occasion darted through the crowds and his field of vision, then away again in their whirlwind. Shuichi decided as the day achingly crawled on that Rantaro was pretty nice. He was nice and enjoyed himself and everything quietly—it was almost funny how quiet Shuichi felt his day was in spite of being surrounded by ringing bells and screaming children.

He wasn’t quite as fond of Rantaro’s perpetual knowing smile whenever Kaito and Kokichi dropped in like bombshells on their tranquil party. 

Ryoma had been in the middle of trying to win a prize for Gonta to cheer him up after discovering he was too large for a good portion of the rides. He readied his aim at an impossibly small target, while Keebo said, “there is no need to feel disappointed, Gonta-kun. I strongly believe that ride was prejudiced anyway as the man running it also refused me entrance in what was blatant robopho—”

“He was probably just thinking of the children,” Kokichi said suddenly, causing Keebo to jump. “I mean a robot riding on another robot? Is Keeboy really that shameless?”

“I-I do not understand or like what you are trying to imply!” Keebo yelled back.

Shuichi’s gaze flickered up to Kaito already engaged in the petty fight and then down to the comically large stuffed animal clutched in Kokichi’s arms. Then Kaito’s waving, noticing his presence all of a sudden. He says, “Shuichi, where have you been all day, man? Oh! Have you been on that one high drop ride yet? It does this awesome thing where it’s like—”

He goes off in detail, and Shuichi nods along in admiration. Kokichi chimes in, “And Saihara-chan, you should try the really spin-y one. Momota-chan got so dizzy he almost threw—”

“That was you, you little liar, and you only pretended ‘cause you made me buy cotton candy like five seconds later.”

“Which just proves that Momota-chan was the one who got dizzy and stumbled around,” he clicks his tongue. “But I guess I should have expected that—grace has never been Momota-chan’s strong suit.”

“Hey! We’ll see about that!”

Rantaro smiles, much more calmly observing the situation than Shuichi whose eyes keep darting back and forth with each volleyed comment. “I think there was a place where you could do roller skating,” he says. “If that would help either of you improve your bal—”

“Ouma!” Kaito says. “I challenge you! I bet I can do five hundred laps before you even get your skates on!”

Kokichi giggles. “I love it when people make bets with me that they’re going to lose. Saihara-chan,” he holds out what Shuichi now registers up close is a stuffed horse, “hold this while I teach Momota-chan a lesson, okay?”

He awkwardly grabs it, while Kaito leaps to the challenge and then leaps again to follow Kokichi sprinting off back into the crowds. Shuichi says after them, “have fun…”

“I didn’t know Momota-kun could roller skate,” Rantaro muses in their wake.

“Ah, he can’t,” Shuichi says.

“Interesting. I don’t think Ouma-kun can either.”

Gonta smiles at them, holding a new collection of plush butterflies. “Gonta thinks Ouma-kun and Momota-kun could bond over learning!”

Ryoma shakes his head. “Seems like they’ve been doing a lot of that already today.”

Shuichi looks at him quizzically, while Korekiyo adds, “however, that is logical, is it not? Typically a successful date consists of two parties coming to a greater understanding and enjoyment of each other’s company.”

“A,” Shuichi blinks. “Date?”

Rantaro laughs. “Well, I suppose they did ditch us to run off with each other, though I have to wonder if either of them realized it.”

Shuichi shuffles the things in his arms and feels a brief rush of thanks towards Keebo suggesting some other calm activity that will let him think. 

The next run in sees Kaito carrying Kokichi on his back, complete with complaints of a sprained ankle and more complaints of faking an injury. Then throwing popcorn at each other’s faces to catch turning into a war with more than a few pieces ending up in any unlucky bystander’s hair. Then late in the evening when the entire festival starts to glow with light, Kokichi runs up, ankle forgotten, flapping the long sleeves of Kaito’s coat eagerly in Keebo’s face. With a shrug, Kaito answers he hadn’t wanted to hear Kokichi complain about the cold for who knows how long. 

Kaito says, “sucks we didn’t hang out much today, but, you know, I had to keep an eye on Ouma.”

“Ah, right,” Shuichi says. “He’s rather… energetic. I’m not sure I could have kept up with either of you.”

“What? ‘Course you could have,” he says. “You’re my sidekick, and any sidekick of mine can run a million miles with me any day of the week!”

“I don’t know about that,” Shuichi says. “But, um,” he feels his face flush slightly. “Even if we didn’t hang out, I’m glad you had fun today with Ouma-kun.”

Kaito looks confused all of a sudden. “Wha—I was fucking chasing after him all day—we weren’t hanging out or any—”

“Right,” Shuichi says, and he can’t help but smile in that same knowing way Rantaro always does. “By the way, you should probably give Ouma-kun his prize back before you go home.”

Kaito grins and launches into a story how Kokichi bet him he couldn’t win one of the games and he sure showed him, even let him keep the stupid stuffed horse because he didn’t even want something dumb like that—

“It is strange,” Korekiyo says sometime later on the walk back, Kaito and Kokichi once again leading the charge, the latter riding on the former’s shoulders. “I do not believe I have yet observed a date whether neither participant seemed aware of what was happening. Though intermittent, it was quite the sight to behold. However, observing Keebo-kun’s persecution complex in action also had its merits.”

Shuichi smiles. Kaito seems to sulk a bit when they reach the dorms. It fades when Kokichi gestures for him to bend down to his level in order to deliver a kiss to the side of his face. 

He dashes off, and Kaito dashes after him, ending things almost exactly as they began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think oumota week's over so it's probably gonna be oumota month for me and this fic series adljfk but anyway i hope you enjoyed!!!


	3. dreams

Kaito’s room is a mess. Kokichi thinks it a dozen times other along with a chastisement that the other boy really should have cleaned up, knowing he was going to break into his room at any time of day.

Digging through Kaito’s closet, however, isn’t nearly as exciting as Kokichi had hoped it would be. Lacking any skeletons—real or metaphorical—and a few too many smelly piles of laundry, he almost abandons the quest for new exciting dirt when a worn notebook strategically hidden just behind a rack of rarely used formal jackets catches his eye. 

The hiding spot is easy enough to access that Kokichi gets the feeling this is not a forgotten piece of trash but rather something full of wonder and mystery. Well, that and the charmingly childish drawings of stars and rocket ships decorating the front cover. Kokichi flops onto Kaito’s bed to flip open the first page, and the title sprawled across the first page of _Kaito’s Journal of Dreams_ entices him enough to get comfortable as he begins his journey. 

Instead of any amusing hallucinatory stories of Kaito showing up to class without pants or eating a giant marshmallow only to discover his pillow coated in drool the next morning, Kokichi’s first finding is what looks like a checklist. 

He notices that the items at the top look really old. Get a telescope, make a wish on a shooting star, and build a rocket ship—with an amendment that it’s out of cardboard—are all eagerly checked off. Further down, Kokichi sees things like learning Russian and acing some sort of complicated sounding math class. 

Kokichi finds himself slightly annoyed at how practical most of the goals at the current end of the list are, though the proud statement of _Go to Space!!!_ surrounded by more star doodles still spurs him to flip through the pages. 

Each section reads like a diary entry complete with smiling stick figure drawings, and Kokichi smirks at the writings obviously made by a very young Kaito.

He starts to read, 

_I got really really really sick today so no space progress but I finally put up the stars I got for my birthday!!! I did it all by myself but then I got in trouble for using the step ladder ~~insuperv~~ ~~unsuperviz~~ without grandma watching. I don’t know why she was so upset! I only fell once! But anyway—_

“How the hell did you get in my room?” Kokichi hears a sudden voice ask.

He doesn’t bother looking up from the journal. “I think we both know the answer to that, Momo-chan. I teleported.”

He hears Kaito huff and throw what he assumes is his backpack to the ground. “Okay, fine. What the hell are you doing in my room?”

“Some light reading,” Kokichi says.

“Light read—” Kaito starts to say.

He stops abruptly, and Kokichi looks up to see Kaito suddenly burning red. “Something the matter, Momo-cha—”

“Give that back!” Kaito shouts, already lunging for the diary.

Kokichi bounces off the bed, leaving Kaito to fall across where he had been laying. “Aw, too slow, Momo-chan. By the way,” he clears his throat. “There’s going to be a meteor shower tonight! Grandpa said I could stay up past my bedtime to—”

“I said give it back!” Kaito makes another try for the book, but Kokichi dances around him, jumping onto his desk to get away. 

“Aw, is Momo-chan embarrassed?” Kokichi giggles. “I think it’s cute.”

Kaito stops going after him long enough to regain any of the color he had briefly lost in their short chase. “C-Course I’m not embarrassed! A man has to have his dreams, you know! And it’s not cute!”

Kokichi turns the journal towards him to show a stick figure he assumes is Kaito high-fiving an alien stick figure. “It’s pretty cute.”

Kaito tries to swipe it again, and this time Kokichi lets it go without a fight. “I was like six, okay! It’s not like I use it anymore, and—oh fuck,” he frowns as he examines the first few pages. “You bent the corners.”

He walks away from Kokichi without another word, suddenly consumed in trying to smooth out the well worn paper. From his perch on Kaito’s desk, Kokichi croons, “Momo-chan is sooo cute.”

“I’m gonna put punching you as my next goal,” Kaito mumbles darkly under his breath.

Kokichi gasps excitedly. “I get to be in Momo-chan’s diary?”

“It’s not a diary!” Kaito shouts. “It’s a dream journal!”

“Is that really any more ‘manly?’” Kokichi asks. “Oh, and when you do your drawing of me, make sure to get my good side.”

Kaito runs a hand over his face. “Get out?” he says, more as a tired request than anything else.

“Nope!” he says, hoping down. “Not until I see what Momo-chan writes about me.”

Kaito raises an eyebrow. “Why are you so excited about this?”

“Well, the way I see it,” Kokichi says. “If Momo-chan writes about me in his dream journal, then that means I’m in his very dreams.” He bats his eyes. “Right?”

Kaito glares at him for a moment. “I’m making your stick figure ugly.”

“Nooo!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah i got so busy with other projects but here is finally another chapter! i was also having trouble thinking of what to do with day 3's prompt so i decided to just skip it and come back until i think of something!


	4. lies/honesty

In a married couple, a person on average lies to their spouse in one out of every ten interactions.

Kaito didn’t think he was in an average marriage. 

\---

“Morning. You’re up early.”

“Of course! I always wake up before my dear Kai-chan, and really you should go back to bed to get more beauty sleep.”

“Nah, we’re getting low on some stuff, so I was gonna run to the grocery store to—”

“Already taken care of! Aren’t I just the most dependable?”

“Dude, just how early did you wake up?”

“I dunno! Why would I keep track of something as unimportant as that?”

“Was it still dark out?”

“I don’t pay attention to unimportant things like that either!”

“Don’t get mugged.”

\---

“Eeeew! Kai-chan, you smell so gross! You can’t just come back here and manhandle me after making yourself so sweaty!”

“Hey! I went to the gym like five hours ago!”

“And you still haven’t showered? Double eew! Now I need to shower, too.”

“I do not smell—I even made sure to use that extra strength deodorant I got ‘cause you kept complaining about it.”

“Aww, Kai-chan remembered a present I got him? And he did all that for little ol’ me?”

“Well, yeah? Why are you acting so surprised?”

“Because you still smell.”

\---

“Would it kill you to be nice to my friends?”

“Yes! Have you seen Harumaki-chan’s face? How can anyone be nice when looking at something that ugly?”

“Dude!”

“What? It’s only the truth. Doesn’t just seeing her put you in a bad mood?”

“Listen, I know you guys have a past, but you’ve both moved on and can maybe start getting along as just people, you know?”

“Well, I’ve moved on, but it’s pretty obvious Harumaki-chan hasn’t. Did you see what she did when I said hello?”

“You asked her if she had strangled anyone to death lately.”

“And it was an honest question!”

\---

“Ughhhh, it’s so hoooot in here, Kai-chan.”

“Huh? I feel fine.”

“So everything’s just okay? How insensitive! What about my needs, Kai-chan?”

“If it bothers you that much, I guess I could swap this blanket for one of the thinner ones back in the storage closet.”

“I guess that is the only solution. Man, why did you buy such heavy blankets?”

“You bought them.”

“Lies and slander! I would never buy something so impractical like—”

“You liked them because they were purple and had horses on them.”

“…”

\---

“Hey, I’m heading to bed now.”

“Okay! I’ll be right there to keep Kai-chan company and read you a bedtime story and tuck you in and—”

“Can I except this in five minutes or are you gonna wake me up at three in the morning again?”

“Since when have I ever done something as rude as that? You must be thinking of your other husband, Kai-chan.”

“Nah, I could pick your cold feet out of a thousand others every time.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet. Unless you have a foot fetish then—”

“I’m going to bed now.”

“Dream about feet!”

\---

“So were you watching our season or something last night?”

“Huh? Who was watching what?”

“I found one of the DVDs left in the player this morning. Why were you watching that crap?”

“Oh, I was just checking out some of the bonus features, and you know, like, when you watch a video of yourself and see all the things you could do better? I was doing that with the interviews.”

“You mean like when athletes rewatch their games or something?”

“Exactly! And that, Kai-chan, is why you should rewatch our sex tape.”

“We don’t have a sex tape.”

“Oh, right. We _don’t have_ a sex tape. Wink.”

“Kichi, I swear to God.”

\---

“Is your phone background really our wedding picture?”

“Huh? Well, yeah, that was a great day. It’s weird to think about how everyone showed up, too.”

“Why wouldn’t they? Everyone looooves you. Honestly, it was hard for me not to get a little jealous when everyone was falling all over you.”

“I meant that we were still in contact with everyone. I mean, I know it was only like a year after the game but still. Though I guess we were kinda the weird ones for turning around and just getting hitched so fast.”

“What can I say? Life comes at you fast, Kai-chan. And like I said, you were just sooo popular, I knew I needed to do something quick. And now you’re doomed to be with me forever.”

“I wouldn’t say doomed. Well, not all the time.”

“Y-You would sometimes? How could Kai-chan say something so mean t-to his dearest, sweetest—”

“Kichi, I’m touching the gum you stuck under the dining room table right now.”

“Well, it had lost all its flavor. I dunno what to tell you, Kai-chan.”

\---

“Hey, are you still not dressed yet? We’re gonna miss our reservation if you’re not ready soon.”

“Kai-chaaaan, I’m sick. Can’t you see how sick I am?”

“Really? Here let me feel your forehead and—”

“No! If you touch me then you’ll get infected, and I’d rather die than make my poor beloved Kai-chan sick.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you not believe me? Don’t you see how pale and sickly I am? I’m dying here, but all you care about are our dumb dinner plans…”

“If you really don’t want to go, you could just say something. Seemed like it was gonna be real crowded anyway.”

“But if I didn’t do the whole ‘I’m so sick routine’ then you wouldn’t make me soup or let me use one of our fancy bath bombs.”

“Well, yeah, those are expensive. They’re for special occasions.”

“And me being on the verge of death isn’t a special occasion? How cruel can you—”

“How about we compromise, and I just go buy you ice cream instead?”

“Kai-chan is the very best in the whole world and I love you sooo much!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

\---

“Do you not like my cooking?”

“Huh? Why do you ask?”

“‘Cause I made you dinner last night and I found it all scrapped off into the trash.”

“You were going through our trash? Gross.”

“Listen, I know you’re not big on vegetables, but you gotta eat something.”

“Boo, you’re not my mother, Kai-chan. And even my own mother didn’t care about that!”

“Kichi, you know I’m just worried about you. I know you don’t cook for yourself, so if I’m not making you something are you just—”

“Oh come on. Have a little faith in me, Kai-chan. I’m not that incompetent. I fended for myself long before I met you, you know.”

“Alright, fine—I’ll try this a different way. What do you want me to make you that you’ll actually eat?”

“Candy!”

“Kichi.”

“Kai-chan.”

\---

“Hey.”

“Oh. You’re home early.”

“Yeah. Were you just sitting in the dark by yourself?”

“No.”

“Kichi.”

“I was taking a nap—what do you want from me.”

“I think… you should get out a little more. When was the last time you left the apartment?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I know you know. How are you really feeling lately?”

“Why, I’ve been just dandy like always. Have I been acting strangely?”

“You know, if the game’s still bothering you, you can tell me.”

“What? Don’t be stupid. The game was years ago—only someone really pathetic and wimpy would still… Stop looking at me like that.”

“It’s fine if you lie all the time—I know that’s just how you are—but I also trust you to be honest with me when it’s important, and this seems pretty important to me.”

Kokichi pauses, wrapping his small arms around himself. “I just think about it sometimes, and it’s not like you can save me from my own brain. Even a dummy like you has to realize that.”

He looks at the ground until he feels Kaito’s arm around his shoulders, pulling him in closer. “Well, yeah. But that’s not gonna stop me from trying to be there for you however I can.”

They both go quiet, and Kokichi slowly shifts to rest his head against Kaito’s chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart drowning out a few of the voices in his head. Kaito asks, “know it’s not much, but is this helping?”

“Yeah,” Kokichi says. “Yeah, it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and i managed to think of a good way to tackle this prompt as soon as i decided to put it off fkghj but anyway, i hope you enjoyed!!!


End file.
